WITHOUT WARNING!

Adam Williams

WITHOUT WARNING! (1952). Director: Arnold Laven.

A pretty young woman with blond hair is stabbed to death in a motel room. No, it's not Psycho, it's Without Warning!, a thriller/police procedural that follows cops as they search for a man who murders women with garden shears. The killer, who is revealed early on, is gardener Carl Martin (Adam Williams), and Edward Binns [Young and Dangerous] is Lt. Hamilton, the chief investigator on the case. Carl tries to form a friendship with Jane Saunders (Meg Randall), the daughter of a guy who owns a nursery from where Carl gets his supplies. Although the film's climax is too protracted to be entirely effective, many other scenes are quite suspenseful, such as when Carl tries to get away when his car -- with a dead blonde inside -- is caught in the mud of an underpass as cops drive by. Adam Williams [Fear Strikes Out] was a busy actor of this period and this, his fourth film, was a rare starring role for him; he is excellent. Angela Stevens plays another victim. Only one of the murders is depicted, but not in a sensational or bloody manner. Arnold Laven also directed The Monster That Challenged the World.

Verdict: Moody and absorbing. ***.

FEAR STRIKES OUT

FEAR STRIKES OUT (1957). Director: Robert Mulligan.

In Fear Strikes Out Anthony Perkins acts more "psycho" than in Psycho at times, but it's understandable, as he's playing a very troubled man in this drama based on a true story. Baseball player Jim Piersall (Perkins), who goes from the minors to the Boston Red Sox,  is saddled with a "sports dad" instead of a stage mother --  for his well-meaning father, John (Karl Malden), almost seems to act as if everything is happening to him. All of the stress and tension leads to neurotic episodes and a trip to a sympathetic psychiatrist (Adam Williams), although one senses Piersall's mental problems can't all be blamed on his father. Fear Strikes Out is absorbing, and Perkins gives one of his all-time best performances. Malden is also notable, as is Norma Moore as Jim's wife, Mary. Elmer Bernstein contributed a good score, although the music is somewhat overdone at times.

Verdict: Proof positive that there was more to Perkins than Psycho. ***.